


when you move (I recall something that's gone from me)

by ThunderstormsandMemories



Series: fifteen days of f@tt [1]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: 15 Days of FatT, 15 Days of FatT 2019, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 03:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderstormsandMemories/pseuds/ThunderstormsandMemories
Summary: for the 15 days of FatT day 1 prompt: forgetanother way Jacqui Green could've been reunited with Jillian Red (it's not exactly a Winter Soldier AU but it's not /not/ a Winter Soldier AU, y'know?)





	when you move (I recall something that's gone from me)

**Author's Note:**

> don't ask me how or when this fits with the actual Counter/Weight timeline, I meant to do a whole AU that would make this work but I ran out of time so it's just the one most important scene (I'm not gonna promise to expand this later but I'm definitely considering it)
> 
> title from Movement by Hozier

The party is still in full swing, but the sound’s largely muffled by the reinforced walls, the glossy sliding doors with all the latest tricks in security technology. Jacqui discards her mask, considering tossing it away into an incinerator chute so that it won’t be found and traced back to her, until she imagines what Aria would say, because she had all of their masks custom-made and probably wanted to reuse them on an occasion that involved more dancing and less crime, and clips it to her belt instead. At least it won’t be in the way there, obscuring her vision just enough to put her on the edge, the way it did for the entire time she was in the ballroom. If she had been dancing with Aria, she might have been distracted, might have been able to relax looking into her girlfriend’s eyes, Aria’s hands in hers, might have been able to pretend, at least for the moment, that they were on a date and not a job. But even in a mask Aria Joie was too recognizable, which left her back on the ship with AuDy and Orth, just in case the Chime needed backup or a speedy getaway, and Jacqui was left dancing with Cass, until they sneaked away from the party to get their part of the job done. They were a technically good dancer, with their formal Apostolosian training and all, but they weren’t Aria.

_Someday_ , Jacqui thinks. Someday she’s going to take Aria dancing. She jogs along the corridor, just barely stopping herself from humming happily at the thought, past exposed piping and bundles of wires that Mako is surely using to wreak havoc at this very moment, editing any trace of her from the security footage, and she knows she’s being followed long before she manages to catch a glimpse of her pursuer.

“I know you’re here,” Jacqui says, her voice echoing off the metal walls. “We might as well get this over with now.”

Her pursuer steps out of the shadows, and Jacqui recognizes them.

They were a party guest too, Jacqui recognizes the cut of their well-tailored black suit, the sequins that glitter on the beak of their mask, and there’s almost something else, something she can’t quite place, but before she has a chance to figure it out, or decide whether or not to draw one of the many weapons hidden in the pockets of her own suit, they attack.

There’s something familiar about the way they fight, too. They’re not as strong as Jacqui is, but they’re quick and tough, which should almost be enough to give them a chance against Jacqui, except every time they make a move Jacqui anticipates it, almost like she’s had this fight before, like she knows where every kick and punch is meant to land by the way even before they’re shifting their weight to strike, and they’re getting more frustrated, more impatient, as Jacqui dodges all of their attacks.

And then Jacqui has them cornered, has a chance to take them down, but the sense of curious, sickening dread that’s been building in her this whole time is too powerful and she has to see, has to know for sure, so instead she reaches out and grabs on to the edge of their mask and pulls.

The mask clatters to the floor, and Jacqui stares into the face of a ghost.

She knew. If she’s honest with herself, she knew the moment she saw her, out of the corner of her eye in the ballroom, and convinced herself it was just a stranger with a similar silhouette. She knew by that particular dark shade of red in her hair, the way it caught the light and blended into the shadows. She knew the sharp line of her jaw, the way she held herself as she prepared for a fight, her quick, brutal, unrelenting fighting style, and it should have been unpredictable, except that Jacqui had trained with her and fought by her side for so long that even as they traded blows it felt almost choreographed, a furious and wild dance but a dance nonetheless.

“Jill,” she says, barely louder than a whisper, and it’s part question, part confirmation, part prayer.

Jillian Red, the woman she loved and lost and mourned, who was her partner in every sense of the word until Jacqui wasn’t there to save her, is still staring back at her, eyes narrowed, and she says, nearly spitting her words, “Who the fuck is Jill?”


End file.
